My Fargorate progression

I beat Rachel 13-12, 11-8, and she won the last set 7-5. She was a bit off her game, but I also played pretty good for me. I made a tiny adjustment, I had a local helping me with my game recently, and we discovered I was hitting straight in shots with a touch of left spin (when I was intending to hit center).

I couldn't fix it with my sighting, but at my home fisher price table before my match with Rachel, I was fooling around with it. I purposely moved my tip a hair to the right (in my vision), and couldn't believe the cb was now going dead straight with no spin on the stop shot. So every break with Rachel, and every straight center ball shot/draw shot, I aimed a hair to the right with my tip. I had way way better accuracy than before. Some of my breaks were still wild, but I had some where the CB was super super good and straight, wheras on prior sets that was very rare.
 
iusedtoberich said:
I beat Rachel 13-12, 11-8, and she won the last set 7-5. She was a bit off her game, but I also played pretty good for me. I made a tiny adjustment, I had a local helping me with my game recently, and we discovered I was hitting straight in shots with a touch of left spin (when I was intending to hit center).

I couldn't fix it with my sighting, but at my home fisher price table before my match with Rachel, I was fooling around with it. I purposely moved my tip a hair to the right (in my vision), and couldn't believe the cb was now going dead straight with no spin on the stop shot. So every break with Rachel, and every straight center ball shot/draw shot, I aimed a hair to the right with my tip. I had way way better accuracy than before. Some of my breaks were still wild, but I had some where the CB was super super good and straight, wheras on prior sets that was very rare.
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It's actually pretty amazing how well people can play when they AREN'T cueing straight. I'm going through a similar thing right now. Just returning to the basics and drilling straight in shots, has me getting closer and closer to straight every day. I think one of biggest differences between good and great players is the great players actually enjoy working on the really monotonous stuff. Most others just want to play pool.
 
Funny, I was just looking at my livestream history (where I was the streamer), and my first match was with Rachel. Look at how our fargorates have changed. ha ha.

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iusedtoberich said:
I beat Rachel 13-12, 11-8, and she won the last set 7-5. She was a bit off her game, but I also played pretty good for me. I made a tiny adjustment, I had a local helping me with my game recently, and we discovered I was hitting straight in shots with a touch of left spin (when I was intending to hit center).

I couldn't fix it with my sighting, but at my home fisher price table before my match with Rachel, I was fooling around with it. I purposely moved my tip a hair to the right (in my vision), and couldn't believe the cb was now going dead straight with no spin on the stop shot. So every break with Rachel, and every straight center ball shot/draw shot, I aimed a hair to the right with my tip. I had way way better accuracy than before. Some of my breaks were still wild, but I had some where the CB was super super good and straight, wheras on prior sets that was very rare.
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A touch of inside you say?
 
The downward trend continues to 565. Funny, I feel like I'm playing great, just not getting all the way out at the key moments. The tournament I was most upset about was a $150 entry, 16 man, 7' Diamond, open field in Delaware. I drew a 697 and a 690. The 697 beat me 7-0. The thing I was upset about is he didn't even play good. I had a solid chance to win every single rack, and blew it every single time. The next match with the 690 I lost 7-2. However, that match I played way better. I was tied 2-2 with a chance to take the lead, broke and ran to the 9, got way too thin on it, and send the CB flying and it found a hole.
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I have a feeling now is the time to pick something you haven't practiced in a while and smash it to death. For example, for the next three weeks, stop playing absolutely any real games with anyone no matter how much they ask you, and practice one drill until you can run out. Like the one-pocket L drill, or brainwash, or positional clusters. Pick one that is hard for you.

Do this experiment, and try to be very disciplined. Again don't play any real games.

Then go back to tournaments and see if you jump up permanently a little bit
 
nataddrho said:
I have a feeling now is the time to pick something you haven't practiced in a while and smash it to death. For example, for the next three weeks, stop playing absolutely any real games with anyone no matter how much they ask you, and practice one drill until you can run out. Like the one-pocket L drill, or brainwash, or positional clusters. Pick one that is hard for you.

Do this experiment, and try to be very disciplined. Again don't play any real games.

Then go back to tournaments and see if you jump up permanently a little bit
Click to expand...
I have been playing a ton of 10 ball (to practice its break) which I haven't in a year, to get ready for the big event I signed up for next year. I feel much better on its break than a year ago.

Good idea. This game is so funny. I feel like the number of shots I know and can execute is double what it was 15 years ago. But at the same time, I still can't run all the way out. I guess it's the probability. Must be for example 93% on every shot in a rack to have a 50% chance of getting out.

I want to buy a jump cue and practice it for a week, but I'm so lazy and hate carrying around a bunch of cues. All I have is my playing cue in a $15 1x1 tube case. ha ha.
 
I did play a tournament last night on brand new 2 day old 860HR. One shot really surprised me. The CB didn't bounce off the rail as much as I had thought. I realized afterwards it had a hair of roll on it (it was going into the rail on the tangent line of the shot), and that killed it with the "high karate". I made sure to draw further shots like that, so the bounce off the rail was more natural. Of course I knew this about normal follow shots, but didn't realize it also occurred off the tangent line for simple one rail position shots.
 
Yeah, when you hit plateaus you have to start finding things to do that wear you out quickly, and it isn't fun. You need to get mentally tired after 15 minutes, and then be happy you are doing something you are bad at. It is super easy to quit and go back to playing pool for enjoyment rather than work. That is where having a table at your house is super useful because there aren't (as many) distractions.

I give you the challenge to run two consecutive racks of one-pocket L drills on video by Dec 1st. Attempt for no more than 45 minutes at a time, and take early breaks. But at all costs do not switch back to something more "fun". Not until you have made the successful video.
 
nataddrho said:
I give you the challenge to run two consecutive racks of one-pocket L drills on video by Dec 1st. Attempt for no more than 45 minutes at a time, and take early breaks. But at all costs do not switch back to something more "fun". Not until you have made the successful video.
Click to expand...

I’ve got a 644 FargoRating and I happened to attempt this drill recently on a black-label Diamond with 4 1/8” pockets. It can be brutal going around the corner of the L. I think back-to-back success would be very difficult for me.

Anyway, I’d like to give this challenge a try on a standard Diamond with 4.5” pockets.
 
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